It has been known that to perform the picking of olives or other similar small products, picking apparatuses are used, commonly named knocker down, suitable to act on the branches of fruit trees, shaking them, in order to provoke the detachment and then the falling down of the fruits.
Such knocker down devices generally comprise a supporting rod, preferably of the telescopic type, suitable to be carried by an agricultural machine, or manually by an operator at a suitable end handle. At the free end, the rod carries a series of shaker elements, suitably shaped for being inserted between the branches, suitable to be actuated in rotation or in an oscillating motion by means of drives of the pneumatic or electric type.
In particular, nowadays there are known beater devices comprising lengthened shaped beating elements, for example rod-like or thread-like. Such beating elements can be carried by a suitable support and so actuated in rotation, or articulated to the support itself and actuated in oscillation.
A device of the aforesaid type is illustrated as an example in European patent no. EP1323342 B1 relating to a pneumatic control manual beater device constituted by four beating elements which move two by two through an oscillating motion, on orthogonal planes. Such elements, which have a lengthened tubular shape, are pivoted on a square planted support.
A different type of beater device instead comprises comb shaped beating elements, usually arranged two by two on the support at the end of the support rod. Such elements are suitable to be actuated oscillating between a closed configuration, having the combs arranged facing on parallel planes, and an open configuration, with diverging combs.
Patent EP1040747 discloses an example of comb shaker member shaped by a transverse tubular element whereon there are mounted a plurality of fork shaped prongs.
Patent application no. EP2091317 A1 illustrates a shaker device comprising a body arranged at the top of a support rod and carrying a shaker member suitable to be actuated by means of the interposition of transmission means by actuation means according to a conical pendular motion. The transmission means comprise a lever carried radially by the driving shaft and a support pin connected at one end to the aforesaid lever and at the opposite end to the shaker member. Spherical connection means are provided between the cited connection pin and the box for containing the body of the beater device.
Patent EP1795064 discloses a device for harvesting olives comprising two mobile combs designed to engage with the olives, a support rod for the combs, a central structure from one end of which the rod extends, a grip made on the central structure, a motor for moving the combs, means for transmitting motion form the motor to the combs.
International patent publication no. WO03/030625 discloses an olive picking beating tool, which allows an optimized penetration into the depth of a high-productivity plant, while using a low power motor drive, such as a small battery-operated motor.
Patent GR 97100436 discloses a device for collecting olives, equipped with a vibratory comb which is composed of a specific head designed to convert the rotary motion into eddy motion so that the comb flexible spindles which come in contact with the branches, shake these last and detach the fruit without damaging them or the leaves of the trees. The head is adapted to the top of the tubular pole which permits the shaft to go through; the rotary motion is conveyed to the shaft either directly from a small electromotor or via a cable from a portable or ground petrol engine or from a greater driving unit (e.g. milling-machine). In the case of cable drive, the pole can be adjustable in length thanks to its telescopic construction.
The described devices have made the olive harvesting operations faster and easier, nevertheless they still present non negligible drawbacks.
First of all, such devices have rather complex structures, difficult to assemble and laborious to disassemble in case of maintenance.
Furthermore, known devices have considerable bulk dimensions and weight, sometimes not perfectly equilibrated. For this reason, inserting the shaker members between the branches of the trees can turn out problematic and hard for the operator. As a consequence, the risk of damaging the plants increases because of the use of such devices. In fact a use not well controlled by the operator can lead to scratch or even to shear the branches of the trees, at the germinable part, compromising in such a way the production of fruits for the following year. Such a risk turns out to be worse by the arising of undesired vibrations due to the actuation of the beating elements, if these latter are not perfectly equilibrated.